Madhav, Aryan mount a stirring fightback for Uttar Pradesh

Karnataka fights back against Uttar Pradesh in Ranji Trophy match with spinners turning the tide.

Fortunes fluctuated as Karnataka went from ceding its advantage to clawing back on the third day of its Ranji Trophy contest against Uttar Pradesh here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Centurions Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal were involved in a mammoth 246-run stand for the second wicket, blunting Karnataka’s attack and erased the 186-run deficit.

Spinners Mohsin Khan and Shreyas Gopal then picked three wickets in the space of 19 runs to give Karnataka a foothold, before Sameer Rizvi and Aaditya Sharma set about shutting the door on the visitors.

But just as the light was fading, Rizvi gifted his wicket, pulling Mohsin’s long hop to the deep-midwicket fielder to raise Karnataka’s hopes.

Earlier, Karnataka’s pacers were ineffective, allowing Kaushik and Juyal to come into their own. V. Koushik didn’t attack the stumps enough, Vidyadhar Patil pitched it too short, and debutant Yashovardhan Parantap leaked runs with his half-volleys.

Kaushik drove and cut when the ball was not in the line of the stumps, while Juyal found his bearings with two delectable straight drives that found the boundary off Parantap’s bowling.

Kaushik brought out an aerial cut behind point to reach his ton, off 186 balls. Juyal took 230 deliveries to reach the three-figure mark, smashing Shreyas and Mohsin for a six each in the process.